B cell translocation gene 2 expression levels in human granulosa cells is negatively associated with in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes: a pilot study.

Purpose This study aimed to monitor the expression of B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) in granulosa cells of patients undergoing IVF/ICSI with respect blastocyst quality outcomes.

We recruited 181 women undergoing IVF/ICSI cycles for infertility. Granulosa cells were extracted from follicular fluid. BTG2 expression level of granulosa cells were stratified into tertiles (low, middle, and high), and the patients of each tertile were compared for outcome indicators by Kruskal–Wallis analysis. Spearman’s correlation analyses were used to evaluate the correlation between BTG2 mRNA levels and outcome indicators. Generalized linear models and generalized additive models with smoothing splines were used to adjust for potential confounders.

Patients in the low BTG2 tertile had higher oocyte retrieval, fertilization, blastocyst formation, and high-quality blastocyst rates than those in the high BTG2 tertile. Patients in the high BTG2 tertile exhibited a downward trend in implantation and clinical pregnancy rates compared to those in the low or middle BTG2 tertiles, whereas the early pregnancy loss rate showed an upward trend, although the difference was not significant. After adjusting for confounding factors, the expression level of BTG2 was negatively correlated with oocyte retrieval, blastocyst formation, and high-quality blastocyst rates. Stratified analysis of AMH > 4 ng/ml showed elevated BTG2 expression was associated with reduced oocyte retrieval, fertilization, cleavage, blastocyst formation, and high-quality blastocyst rates. No differences in these outcomes were observed in patients with AMH ≤ 4 ng/ml.

In women with high AMH levels (> 4 ng/ml) elevated BTG2 expression in granulosa cells was associated with poor quality blastocyst outcomes. Similar content being viewed by others Data availability The data analyzed during the current study is not publicly available due to confidence reasons, but can be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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We would like to thank the Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing. Funding This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 82160281), Science and Technology Plan Project of Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology (grant number 202401AY070001-032), Yunnan Support Program of High Level Talents Cultivation Famous Medical Project (grant number RLMY20200017), and Dali Science and Technology Planning Project (grant number 2021085). Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions Conceptualization, J.H. and L.T.; methodology, H.W. and L.Z.; software, J.H. and L.Z.; validation, L.W., J.Y., and M.S.; formal analysis, Y.C.; resources, H.W.; data curation, M.R.; writing—original draft preparation, J.H.; writing—review and editing, M.R., S.Z., and L.T; visualization, J.H., L.W., J.Y., Y.C., and M.S; supervision, S.Z.; project administration, M.R. and L.T.; funding acquisition, L.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Corresponding authors Ethics declarations Ethical approval The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the hospital Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (protocol code: No. (2023) Ethical Review No. 163 and date of approval: 2-Nov-2023). Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Supplementary Information Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material. Rights and permissions Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. About this article Cite this article Luo, J., Wang, H., Zhou, L. et al. B cell translocation gene 2 expression levels in human granulosa cells is negatively associated with in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes: a pilot study. J Assist Reprod Genet 42, 909–922 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-025-03391-y Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-025-03391-y